D is for dog

Dogs, Puppies, Doggies, K-9s, and Chein, no matter how you say it, it all means the same thing. DOG! My family has had 5 different dogs. I've only been alive for one of them, Rudi.


Rudi was a Portuguese Water Dogs, He was born on October 28, 2000. We got him when he was just a puppy. Rudi had Black wavy hair with white patches on his chest and paws. But this summer something terrible happened! On August 13, 2009 Rudi got intestinal cancer and had to be put down. But that wasn't the only thing that was wrong with Rudi.




When Rudi was 5 he was diagnosed with Addison's disease. Addison's disease is a adrenal insufficiency disease and it makes Rudi not be able to cope with anxiety. When ever we would leave him alone for the day he would freak out. But the veterinarian gave him some pills and he was allllllllll better. He had to take the pills ever morning. Rudi was a great dog and I loved him veryyyyyy much.


Rudi made me feel happy inside! He was a great dog. Rudi was a loving dogggy and was caring. He was a funny puppy, when we would go cross country skiing he would run in the ski tracks. He was soo small and he would drown in snow. As a puppy Rudi was sooo cute. He would sneeze so loud that you wouldn't think a dog so small could make that big of a sound.


Rudi was such a great dog and I think I under-appreciated him when he was alive. So my life lesson for you is that you don't always know what you have until it's gone.

C is for Chocolatiers

"He took me to empty room, empty except for a single piano. He sat me down and said... play." This is how Dan Cray described learning piano. He said that his teacher was not much help when it came to his lessons, but he went on to become a great jazz piano player.

I have taken Piano and singing for 9 years from Mari, but have known her for all my life. Mari is an alto-soprano and has her grade 10 in piano. But this post isn't about Mari's piano abilities. It's about how she took her dream and made it reality.

Mari loves chocolate. She always has, she wanted to incorporate chocolate into her career. About 8 years ago Mari decided to start chocolatiering. One of her good friends started to teach the ropes of chocolate. Mari started by making easy chocolates like solid things. But now her chocolate is a work of art. She makes things like lace balls, hazelnut filled chocolates, painted Santas and Much Much MORE!!!!!!!!!

Mari has always been a free spirited person she never tries to be someone shes not. Mari is a great person and has taught me many things; how to play piano, how to make chocolates, and how to make my dreeeeams come true!

(PS that was my life lesson!)

B is for Brother

"I made a snowman and my brother knocked it down and I cried, and then we had tea." ~Dylan Thomas.

This one quote describes my brother's and my relationship. At one moment we will be laughing and having fun and then the next we are fighting. Everybody thinks that we are the exact same but we both know that we are exact opposites.

First, I'm going to tell you a bit about my brother. My brother is Alexander Gregory Kochuk. He was born on August 30, 1989 that makes him 20 years old and 7 years, 7 months older than me. Alex is in his third year at St Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. My brother is 6 feet tall and has brown hair and green eyes. I think that my brother looks a lot like my dad, but everyone says that he looks like my mom.

Next, I'll tell you how mean my brother is. Alex said that one time when I was a baby, we were driving to go pick my grandma up from the airport and I wouldn't stop crying. No matter what they did, I wouldn't stop. Alex said that he wanted to "smother me with a pillow" (exact words) Fortunately, he didn't. Alex and I always fight, and most of the time it's about something stupid like, what channel to listen to on the radio or who gets to sit shot gun, which most of the time he wins. My sister Julia is right in the middle of us, I want her to be on my side and Alex wants her to be on his. Usually Julia ends up just walking away and leave Alex and me fighting. Another time, Alex was babysitting me and told me that if I didn't go to sleep ghosts would come out of the windows and eat me. Of course I was scared so I did exactly as I was told. Now that you read this you probably think that Alex was a bad brother but Alex isn't all bad.

Now I will tell you why Alex is the greatest brother ever. When I was born my brother was 7 years, 7 months old. He said that when my mom was pregnant with me he was a proud big brother and he would bring in the ultra-sound for show and tell in grade 3. Before I was born my brother sewed me a doggy bunting suit for me to wear when I was coming home from the hospital. Alex is a pretty good brother when he wants to, he would play with me, feed me when I was a baby, and includes me when he is doing things with his friends. Alex is encouraging and always making sure I do my best!

But if there's one thing I've learned from growing up with Alex is how to get along with people. We may not always like each other but we will always be brother and sister.

Life lesson: how to get along with people.

A is for Australia

Sure it's got deadly snakes, spiders, and sharks, but that doesn't stop Australia from being the best place I've ever gone!

Five years ago when I was in grade two my whole family went on a month long trip to Australia. Everything there was soo pretty. It had flowers I never saw before, and animals I couldn't even put a name to. All I knew was that I was going to love my trip!

The First place we went to was Sydney, Australia. It was big city, not what I imagined Australia would look like. My image of Australia was deserts and a bunch of kangaroos hopping around.

But in Sydney it was just like one of the cities in Ontario. We stayed 4 days in Sydney then we moved on to our next adventure.

The second place we visited was Cannes, Australia. This place was very warm and had beautiful beaches. My family did a bunch of things from relaxing on an empty beach to deep sea fishing and watching the dolphins. while we were their my brother took scuba diving lessons, he had soo much fun looking at the tropical fish on the Great Barrier Reef. My sister and I went parasailing, it was super scary but at the same time very exciting!

The final place my family went was the Outback, this is how you would imagine Australia. There it is very hot and very dusty. There is only a couple hotels and they are all on the same compound. The Outback is where Ayers Rock is, you've probably seen it in pictures its just a giant rock that is in the middle of desert! The thing I liked best about The Outback was getting to hold a Koala bear our family got to take pictures with one it was so cute but spelled like mint, I don't know why.

No matter where our family is we always have fun together!

Life lesson: love your family and have fun together!

#5 Empathy

"He shook his head and held out his hand for the letter. Parvana folded it and gave it back to him. His hands trembled as he put the letter back in the envelope. she saw a tear fall from his eye. It rolled down his cheek until landed in his beard. 'My wife is dead.'" pg. 79

This paragraph shows how Deborah Ellis is a great empathic author. She makes the readers feel for the characters. Authors make the readers feel empathy by using descriptive words and words that make you feel a certain way. For example when you use the word trembled instead of shook it makes the writing better and more interesting. It helps the reader know what the characters are feeling.When I read that paragraph I feel sadness for the Taliban solider and I feel that Parvana would feel a bit awkward because a man who she thought was scary and mean was crying in front of her. Sometimes the author will use empathy right at the end of the chapter so the reader is dying to read more.

In the stories we are writing for Ms Weldon, I have a lot of empathetic moments. I have writing that makes you want to cry for the characters and others that make you want to jump for joy. Empathetic writing is not the easiest thing to do but when you think about what makes you happy or sad it gets easier. When I was writing my story and I wanted the reader to feel happy I thought of words that, to me, sound happy. I used ecstatic in stead of excited or depressed instead of very sad. I hope that if you every read my story that you will feel exactly the way I wanted you to.

Deborah Ellis is an exactly writer and I hope to, someday, be as good as her!

#4 Burqas

I walk down the busy market street with my 10 year old brother as my chaperon. I see a Taliban soldier on the other side of the street I fall to the ground and hide at my brothers feet. They ask my brother, is this a relative he answers, yes this is my sister. They leave us alone and move to the next group of men. As I stand up I ripe my burqa, the only thing I have keeping me safe from the Taliban is now ruined. My brother and I run home as fast as possible so I can borrow my mothers burqa and go back to work in the market place.

Woman in Muslim countries have to wear burqas, it is probably is very stuffy under the material, that only gives you about a 3 inch whole for you to see out of. Can you imagine wearing something like a burqa in the heat of Afghanistan. I think that I would faint from the heat. Woman have to still finish their everyday chores in their burqas. Something as easy as walking up stairs would be difficult because you would keep tripping over the fabric.

When you think about how the woman have to dress in Muslim countries we take it for granted that we can wear our shorts or our bikinis with out getting beaten or taken to jail. The woman are wearing burqas that goes down passed their ankles and here at SJK girls are getting mad when our teachers tell us our kilts are too short. We are lucky here in Canada that girls and woman have the same rights as men. Could you imagine a life where all the women in Canada had to cover themselves from head to toe? I couldn't.

If I had to wear a burka I think that I would get frustrated with it. I would probably keep tripping. If girls were forced to wear burkas in Canada I think that I would want to move to a different place because I don't think it's fair for there to be discrimination against a certain gender. If every Taliban soldier had to live a day like the women did I think the would stop making the them wear burqas.

I was researching on google, that some women like the burqas, I don't think I would. Some women like them because it is a part of their religion, but they still believe that the should not have to wear the burqas all the time. I think that I would hate the burqa and that I would get rid of it the first opportunity I had. But I guess it's all based on opinion. When I see the women wearing the burqas, it makes me think just how strong some women are. They just wont give up!

#3 Eva Olsson

Imagine. You’re being shipped off in a small train car with a hundred other people, you are told you’re going to be making bricks, but when you arrive at your destination you realize you should have said “ I love you” to your mother, you might not see her ever again. To you this might just be a bad dream but to Eva Olsson it was realty. Eva Olsson came to our school on Monday to tell us about her struggles in the Holocaust. She taught us how we should never hate, and that we should never be a bully. She told us about how she was imprisoned in Auschwitz and how, after they were finally liberated, she found love and how her husband was killed by a drunk driver. She taught us a lot of lessons in that short hour long presentation. She taught us to; never drink and drive, not to be a bystander, and mostly not to be a bully!



Eva wanted us to make sure we never hate. Hate was the reason that her family was killed, hate was the reason most of the Jewish people in Europe she taking away and killed, The Holocaust started because a man hated another man. Eva has taught her children and her grand-children to say "I dislike or I don't like" instead of "I hate." I think that I will try to say I dislike because hate is a very strong word. I don't know how Eva has forgiven the Nazis after what the did to her and her family. I know that if I were Eva I would not be able to get through what the Nazis did without feeling hatred, somehow Eva seems to do it.


Eva had to go through a lot with only her sister to help her. She had to lose her mother, nieces, and father only at the age of 19. Eva has shown us we need to love our family even when we are mad at them. That we should thank them when the make us dinner or pack our lunch. We should tell our parents about our day when they ask, because you never know, it might be the last time you ever see them.


Eva Olsson has been very inspirational to me and I hope she continues to make an impact on others lives. She has had a rough life and somehow she gets the courage to go to far off places and talk about these difficulties. I can't believe that so many people died, lost their families or friends just because someone didn't like your religion. But the Holocaust was not the only time where people were killed based on their skin tone, whether they're a boy or girl, or your race. Like Nelson Mandela who was a prisoner for 27 years all because he was black, when he came out of prison he became the president of South Africa. If you think that discrimination has just happened in the past, your wrong, they're are big things: when people are prejudiced to people of a different race, And things that are small: the ongoing fight between Macs and PCs. People hate too much and we should stop before more people get hurt or killed. After Dr. Eva Olsson's speech I feel motivated to make a difference on how we view each other.